Uzi submachine gun

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The Uzi (Hebrew: ) is a family of guns that started with a compact, boxy, light-weight submachine gun. Smaller and newer variants are considered machine pistols. The first Uzi submachine gun was designed by Uziel Gal in the late 1940s. It was manufactured by Israel Military Industries, FN Herstal, and others.

Contents

1 Design
2 History
3 Variants
4 In Popular Culture
5 See also
6 External links

Design

The Uzi fires the 9 mm Parabellum cartridge (though some variants fire .22 LR, .41AE, or .45ACP) using an open-bolt, blowback operated design.

Also available are 20, 32, 40 and 50 round magazines- 9 mm Parabellum, 10 round magazines-(.41) and (.22LR), and 16 round magazines-.45ACP. All of the above are manufactured by IMI. Other high capacity magazines exist (e.g. 50 round magazines and 100 round drums in 9mm) which are manufactured by companies other than IMI (such as Vector Arms).

It is made of stamped sheet metal and has relatively few parts, making it easy to strip for maintenance. It features a magazine held within the pistol grip, allowing for intuitive, and easy, reloading in difficult conditions ("fist finds fist"). The weapon also features a grip safety, making it difficult to fire accidentally. Despite the grip safety, the Uzi is notorious for slam-firing when dropped or exposed to sudden shocks. When decocked, the ejector port closes preventing entry of dust and dirt. Also, the bolt wraps around the barrel, allowing a heavier, slower-firing bolt in a shorter, better-balanced weapon. This is technically known as a telescoping bolt.

Although the Uzi is generally a highly effective weapon, it is prone to jamming in desert environments because of sand, a fact which possibly contributed to the Israeli military's decision to phase out the gun.

The grip-mounted magazine gives the Uzi a highly distinctive, instantly-recognizeable profile, and as such it is often seen in TV shows, movies and computer games. In such portrayals, the weapon is often fired one-handed (especially the Mini- and Micro-Uzis) and in some cases even as a pair of weapons, one in each hand. While it is possible to fire an Uzi one handed, it offers less control over the weapon leading to less accurate fire, a problem that would be amplified by simultaneously firing a pair of weapons, one in each hand.

History

The weapon was designed by Israel following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. The design was based on the CZ Model 25. The Uzi submachine gun was submitted to the Israeli army for evaluation and won out over more conventional designs due to its simplicity and economy of manufacture. Gal did not want the weapon to be named after him but his request was ignored.

The initial model was accepted in 1951 and was first used in battle in 1956 and gained huge success. It was soon developed into a number of better engineered variants.

Israeli defense doctrine includes the practice of loading a magazine so that tracer rounds alternate with regular rounds. In operation, the personnel aim by walking the tracers onto the target.

The Uzi submachine gun was primarily used as a personal defense weapon by rear-echelon troops, officers, artillery troops and tankers. Advanced and smaller Uzi variations were used by the Israeli special forces until recently, when in December 2003, the Israeli military announced that it was completely phasing the Uzi out of use by its forces but would continue to manufacture the weapon for both domestic use and export.

Total sales of the weapon to date (end 2001) has netted IMI over $2 billion (US), with over ninety countries using the weapons either for their soldiers or in law enforcement.

The German Bundeswehr still use the Uzi under the name MP2.

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Variants

There are several smaller variants of the Uzi SMG:

Mini Uzi, 360 mm (14.17 in) long and basically a scaled-down version of the Uzi. First introduced in 1980, It comes with a side-folding stock and retains a small forward handgrip. The Mini Uzi weighs about a kilogram less than the Uzi when unloaded. The Mini Uzi has a rate of fire of 950 rpm, or about 16 rounds a second.
Micro Uzi, at only 250 mm (9.84 in) in length barely larger than a standard pistol and about as small as the original Uzi design could be made. It fires from a closed bolt position and has a side-folding stock similar to the one on the Mini. The forward handgrip is completely eliminated. First introduced in 1986. The Micro Uzi weighs 2.2 kilograms less than the Uzi when unloaded and fires at a rate of 1250 rpm, which can unload the 20 round magazine in 0.96 seconds.
Para Micro Uzi, designed specially for counter terror units. It was recently developed by the IMI and is in use by the Shabak and the Israeli counter-terror units such as the YAMAM. It has a side-mounted charging handle, a provision which makes room for top and bottom-mounted Picatinny rails. It has an angled pistol-grip to accommodate a 33-round GLOCK 18 magazine.
Uzi Pistol, a semi-automatic version of the Micro developed for sale in countries where the civilian ownership of automatic weapons is restricted, such as in the United States. Externally, it is distinguished by not having a stock or a recoil compensator.
Uzi Carbine, a semi-automatic version of the full sized Uzi SMG, with a longer 400 mm (16 inch) barrel. Was also generally available for sale to civilians in the United States prior to both semi-auto models being banned from import in 1994. New Uzi Carbines are still available from several American manufacturers as of March, 2006.

Those variants are still in use by many special forces and law enforcement agencies in the world - including in Israel and the United States.

The unrelated Ingram MAC-10 is often dubbed the "American Uzi" because of its similar style of use.

In Popular Culture

External links

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